What mode do you usually use?

Normal mode, pretty much all the time. Does not seem to impact mileage compared to ECO, and I like the pedal response better. I think Toyota could have done a better job of explaining there is a Normal mode

 

Adam H – Au Contraire… Pushing the ECO Button on the Center Console to enter the “ECO Mode,” changes the response curve of the “Fly By Wire” Foot Throttle Pedal to give it a “softer,” more “Fuel Miserly” metering of fuel for a given pedal depression position versus the fuel metering rate for the same physical pedal position in the Fuel Thirstier “PWR Mode.” Additionally, it puts the Electric Air Conditioning Compressor in the “Lean Cooling Mode,” as regards the A/C’s electrical drain on the Traction Battery, compared to the drain when the A/C in on and operating in the “PWR Mode.”

I drive in the “ECO-Button-Activated” Mode 99.9% of the time because I drive “Hybrid $mart” 99.9999% of the time. Yes, I am serious about Pseudo-Hypermiling EcoDriving, and $miling when I log $tellar MPG Fuel Economy in my fuel log on each Tank-Full Top-Off.

On occasion, when I anticipate “The Need For Speed” off the line at a traffic light or to more quickly get from here to there in the thundering herd of traffic, I will “Arm” my Prius v Warfighter by pressing the console button to activate the “PWR Mode.” For a regular user of the “ECO Mode” who is used to the “softer” throttle response in the Ultra-Fuel Sipping “ECO Mode,” the difference in foot throttle response when switching from the “ECO Mode” into the “PWR Mode” is like going from “dirtied up” Full Flaps, Max Loiter, into “Full-Burner, After Burner” in a fighter aircraft.

The “PWR Mode” tightly winds up the 1.8-Liter “Atkinson Cycle” mit Hybrid Synergy Drive Electric Motor-Generator Assist into a screaming, Get-Up-And-Go…WE ARE GONE… GONe… GOne…Gone… gone-e-e-e…Mode. No, it is not Ferrari or Porsche performance. However, it will do a fine job of showing those Vrroom-m-m'ing Corvettes, ominous Pick ‘Em Up Duallies, assorted lumbering impatient SUVs/CUVs, and everyone else riding your rear bumper, your “Six O’Clock.” It shows your “Six” to them as it rapidly gets smaller on the horizon requiring them to quickly squint to get a good read on your Vanity License Plate Of Choice.

 

I normally use 'normal', no pun intended... somet things I have noticed... and I don't know for sure - but this is my best guess... yes, eco and pwr modes remap the throttle - this we do know. I also am assuming it makes changes in the varibility portion of the drive train. Do this - on flat ground - set your cruise ... say at 55. in normal mode ... then lissten to the motor - as you hit the button and enter eco mode... the engine rpm will drop about 300 rpms...

I am assuming this changes the "torque" curve if you will - much like drive and overdrive on a regular transmission... or maybe more like - locking in the torque converter vs. letting it slip.... on a normal vehichle.

I could be all washed up - but that was my observation. since my commute is very gradual grades up and down over 40 miles ... usually 2% or less -- I leave it in normal - as the extra little engine rpm seems to help it maintain speed better.
when in eco mode -- it tends to rev more and coast more ... i only use power to pass or get on interstate... but regardless of mode you get the same response when you mash the pedal.

i have also noticed a slight and bit odd delay when you change modes with the throttle depressed. going from normal to power to pass a car as an example - sometimes i can be next to the car - and then mine comes alive...
i have also noticed though - that if you switch modes, let off the gas pedal, the re-depress from a 0 position ... it tends to make the transition faster. I think it has a little trouble syncronizing the mode with the current throttle position -- by letting off the pedal - then everything ramps up from a zero state... again - i could be full of BS. but this is my observations.

 

OK. So let's say I'm cruising on the freeway at say 65 mph, does it matter to the gas mileage if I'm using Normal or ECO mode? How about on the freeway in stop and go traffic? If it does make a difference, why?

 

I'll try that next chance I get, with my ScanGage displaying RPM. I'm sceptical: don't think RPM will budge when you go from Normal to ECO, could be wrong. I'll check it out.

A/C should be off for this, because ECO apparently does change A/C behaviour, which might in turn change RPM.

 

i have to disagree on that last part, since the ac is electrically driven. granted it would put more load on the charging side of things....but its not like a clutch driven system.

 

Would you please try it with AC on and AC off?

 

I made a half-baked attempted to look for RPM change, ECO vs Normal, but too many variables were stacked against me.

For starters, the road grade was variable. And the road was moderately windy, so watching ScanGage and depressing buttons seemed overly distracting, so I didn't stick with it for long.

Then it came back to me, that Scangauge is just intermittantly sampling, every 2 seconds I believe is the default. So I'd go into ECO, nothing happens with ScanGage immediately, then an RPM number pops, (either higher or lower) but it's hard to say what significance it has.

Then, it's night, dark, the windows are down and nobody wants the A/C on.

Anyway, there doesn't appear to be an RPM shift, and it's my hunch there isn't, but I really couldn't verify.

 

and....it may not shift...i was just trying to observe and use my logic as to whar changes in eco mode besides throttle response.

 

Tried it again on the freeway this afternoon, a level stretch, A/C on. Again it's hard to tell: ScanGage only updates rpm every 2 seonds, and most times the update yielded a slightly different rpm. There didn't seem to be any trend, ECO vs Normal.

 

OK so here's another opportunity for an entrepreurial technical auto person to publish a technical manual for the Prius owner that would explain all this stuff. The manual that comes with the car just lacks such detail.

 

I tried the A/C on/off vs rpm on a recent long trip and notice a consistent 100 rpm increase each time the A/C was turned on. BTW, my Scangauge is set to Fast Update.

 

I use ECO. When I am on back roads and traffic is light I use EV only mode 24mph to ascend the hill as ICE comes on at 25mph in EV mode. This is how I achieved this tonight averaging 22-45 mph:

 

A s a taxi driver, I can't afford to drive in eco mode because most of you guys are always in a rush. Normal mode does trick for me, oh and I make sure I always start on EV mode when stopped at the lights. (Given I've enough juice in the battery)

 

ECO .....I use lots of Air Conditiong. It seems to give me the best Mpg....Rich

 

I found another difference between ECO and regular mode. I was going down a steep downhill at 50 mph with Cruise Control on. On ECO mode I got 2 bars on regenerative brake indicator and the cruise control maintained set speed. When I switched ECO off the regenerative braking went to 1 bar, like driving with your foot off the gas pedal, and the car accelerated beyond the set speed. It seems that ECO with cruise control uses regenerative braking from keeping the car at set speed on downhills.

 

Okay, so as a total "noob" to the Prius world with my vee, reading this entire thread, what is the technical difference between Eco and normal modes? (And I agree with others that normal mode needs to be mentioned in the manuals... at least once! Totally never knew I could drive in anything other than the three modes with buttons.) I'm still only getting about 45 mpg averages (pretty 50/50 city/hwy driving) and obviously I'd love it to be better.

 

ToriMichel - When none of the Mode Buttons (EV, ECO, PWR) are activated, as indicated by no EV, ECO, or PWR light illuminated on the upper right of the MID instrument display, you are in the "NORMAL Mode."

FWIW FYI: Click on the e-link in my signature. When you get teleported there, READ, HEED, & START GETTING $TELLAR MPG NUMBERS.

45 MPG numbers are good, but they can be Mo' Betta! When, and as, you get Hybrid $marter, you will start regularly getting MPG-FE numbers in the 50s MPG.

 

Thanks catgic. I did figure that much out haha! (I am reading and bookmarking your link, btw... lots of fun reading to do.) I wanted to know what the manufacturer stated differences are, if that makes sense. For instance, they say that the differences between Eco and Power modes are pedal/throttle response... does the Normal mode fall somewhere in between those two, in terms of technical output? What is the advantage to using the Normal mode instead of the Eco... is it just responsiveness or is there some sort of mechanical difference? That's really what I'm going for

 

ToriMichel – There is no mechanical linkage between the gas pedal and the engine fuel metering. It is strictly an electrical dual Hall-effect sensors “Fly By Wire” connection between the driver’s foot depression calling for acceleration, and the Pv Petrol Warfighter’s fuel metering system throwing some “extra cobs” into the Hybrid “Puffer Belly.”

Think of it this way. The “Normal Mode” is the mode you would get if only a single mode of operation were offered. The Official EPA Fuel Economy Tests on the Prius v are performed in this “Normal Mode.”

With that as a baseline, now add three more modes. The “ECO Mode” gives the driver-operator chasing MAX MPG the option to surpass the Official EPA 44/42/40 MPG Fuel Economy performance numbers by trading off initial throttle pedal response to deliver a more miserly, less “Thirsty” fuel consumption operation. Additionally, in the “ECO Mode” the electric Air Conditioning is operated in a “Leaner” Cooling Mode. This “Leaner” A/C Cooling Mode is used to cut down further on electrical energy drain and depletion from the Traction Battery needed to operate the electric A/C compared to Non-ECO Operating Modes, thereby permitting this conserved “Extra” electric energy to be available to be used to propel the “v” vehicle.

I run my Pv5 in the ECO Mode 99.9% of the time, as well as EcoDriving it Hybrid $mart. This operating profile has permitted me to have never had an average Per Tank-Full MPG calculation below the “Magic” 50 MPG number.

The “PWR Mode” is largely there for the “Gas-To-Go/Brake-To-Stop” folks who still have not been “Assimilated into the Prius Borg ‘Hive’.” It is for drivers who are looking for improved initial throttle pedal response, and are willing to put the pursuit of $tellar MPG numbers “On The Back Burner.” I liken the “PWR Mode” to the “After-Burner Mode” in a jet fighter aircraft. When one drives in the ECO Mode all the time, as I do, switching to operation in the PWR Mode is like going into “Full Burner.” I use the PWR Mode very judiciously because it is a “Thirstier” fuel consumption mode of operation. I usually employ it when I see or anticipate that traffic conditions and safe driving operation in high-density road traffic will require me to accelerate more quickly to “Get Off The Line” or “Get Out Of The Way” of an on-the-road “In-A-Hurry-To-Go-Nowhere Crazy Or Road Rage’er.”

The “EV Mode” is a great new OEM feature that aids the driver-operator in propelling the vee on battery power alone, thereby, keeping the gasoline-consuming 1.8-Liter engine turned off and consuming ZERO “Ø” fuel (i.e. running at “Infinite MPG”). I generally use the EV Mode “Off The Line” at RED traffic signals changing to GREEN. I stop for the RED Light, check to see if extra Traction Battery charge is available, then tap the “EV Mode” button if enough Charge Bars are available, and then, when I get the GREEN “GO” Light, accelerate in the EV Mode to 25 MPH, at which point the HSD “Gremlins” cause the ICE to fire up and be brought on-line.

Happy EcoDriving & Electro-Gliding Past Gas Station After Gas Station. Resistance Is Futile. Thee Shall Become A Prius Borg Queen And Be Assimilated Into The “Hive.”